Design and demonstration of an X-band transmit-array

This article presents the design, realization and experimental characterization of a new planar transmit-array at 9.6 GHz with a 10% -3 dB gain bandwidth. The elementary cell consists of two slot-coupled patch antennas connected with a phase delay line. The design and optimization procedure are presented, as well as experimental results showing an acceptable agreement with the numerical predictions. Beam-steering up to 30deg is demonstrated by shifting the feed source. This work is a first step toward the development of future reconfigurable transmit-arrays.